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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask your top tips on saving?

87 replies

RetroFlowers65 · 02/02/2018 14:41

Dh monthly income after tax, NI and pension is £3750 and we never seem to have any money left at the end of the month. We should be able to save to take the kids on lovely holidays etc but we just can't. I know we are lucky compared to some but could I have your top tips at saving as I feel we should be able to save £1000 a month easily on our income.

OP posts:
specialsubject · 02/02/2018 15:45

There you go. No need to fart about with apps. Just stop buying takeaways, movie rentals ( with all those pay TV things!!) Plus no more adult clothes, books ( use a library) presents, magazines.

Lose the pay media. Spotify is free, just download an ad blocker. Car loans always a bad move but you will be stuck.

BT is super pricey. Mobile contracts can be £6 a month or so. And BT TV as well????

Original poster
RetroFlowers65 · 02/02/2018 15:46

Our household monthly income is £5500 so definitely could save £1000 rather than wasting it on crap. Is there an app or software I could use for this.

OP posts:
Original poster
RetroFlowers65 · 02/02/2018 15:50

Ok we waste money I know that and I am trying to stop. The £1800 a month covers all the bits it should with change so we leave that where it is for residential trips etc. We do have savings I don't think I said we had zero savings I would like to be able to add to them.

OP posts:
Original poster
RetroFlowers65 · 02/02/2018 15:52

I want to add to them so we can take dc to Florida and a few other states why we are there is summer. It would be a one off special treat before they get to old for the magic of Disney.

OP posts:
specialsubject · 02/02/2018 15:53

...once you have six months living expenses stashed.

phoenix1973 · 02/02/2018 15:53

Don't go to the shops unnecessarily. Don't shop online unnecessarily. Works for me.

specialsubject · 02/02/2018 15:54

...and apps or software don't stop you pissing money away. That's like buying a decluttering book, makes the problem worse.

Rainboho · 02/02/2018 15:58

...and apps or software don't stop you pissing money away. That's like buying a decluttering book, makes the problem worse.

Exactly! If you want to save, you will. The only person stopping you is yourself. Don’t fart around with whizzy plans and actions, just put some in savings!

BarbaraofSevillle · 02/02/2018 15:59

Everything you need to know is here

WildWindsBlowing · 02/02/2018 15:59

I feed 2 adults, 2 teens and 2 dogs for £100 a week and that includes 3 bottles of wine and a takeaway over the weekend.
That seems an amazing achievement Mrssapphire. How do you do it? Would you be able to give some roughly typical weekday menus & say what the dog food is and how much the wine is? For me one takeaway alone for 4 would be £30 probably.

mindutopia · 02/02/2018 16:00

Agreed, I think it's just putting money away when you get paid. I would say our income is similar to yours (or is when I'm not on mat leave) and I alone have been saving about £500 a month (to use during mat leave, which I'm now on). My dh saves probably at least that much if not more, though he tends to invest it as we own a bunch of shares, so honestly I'm not really sure how much he actually saves. We don't have loads of luxuries though (no netflix, etc., we have free sat), rarely shop for new clothes, etc. and don't eat out that much, pack our own lunches every day, and we don't have car payments, though our rent and council tax is more than yours.

Rainboho · 02/02/2018 16:00

*disclaimer

I mean this advice on the income OP has. I am well aware it’s not as easy as that on a low income.

BarbaraofSevillle · 02/02/2018 16:02

You (or your DH and/or DCs) are probably spending money on little things that add up (coffee and lunch out of the house, lots of top up shops, magazines for example).

Look at your bank statements to see where it is being spent. You can usually download into a spreadsheet and sort by retailer. Or if you have lots of cash spends, you need to write it down.

A tenner a day on lunch and coffee every working day adds up to a couple of hundred pounds a month. If you are both doing that, that's close to five grand a year just there.

ThatFuckingVase · 02/02/2018 16:03

Can you set up a separate savings account and start transferring into it on payday (set it up to go automatically, and consider it to be like a bill... it goes every month).

Start small, and then increase how much you transfer as you get used to having a bit less spending money each month.

If you save £20 a week, that's over £1k in a year... and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't miss the £20. I'm sure you'll manage to save more than that, but start small while getting organised is the key I think.

Mycarsmellsoflavender · 02/02/2018 16:06

That's a heck of a lot on BT. More than you spend on food. I would look at reviewing your mobile deals and TV. If you're out of contract, do a price comparison first and then ring BT, saying you're going to leave as it's too expensive. They'll come back with a cheaper deal.

DuckBilledAardvark · 02/02/2018 16:07

I have an online banking app, I log on every day and round down my bank balance, so if I had £1234 I would transfer £4, £34 or £234 to my savings account depending on time of month.

Original poster
RetroFlowers65 · 02/02/2018 16:08

Ok, I have set up a standing order for £1000 on the first of each month to go into our savings account. I transferred a £1000 just now on line we still have over £1000 to waste on shit. Days out etc won't be effected as that comes out of the £1800pcm. Looked back it is bt movie rentals, costa, take away, audio books, subway etc we are wasting £1000's of a year.

OP posts:
OneFlewOverTheDodosNest · 02/02/2018 16:10

Budgeting should be planning what to do with your money at the beginning of the month, not figuring out where it went at the end of the month. Once we'd figured this out we suddenly had money left at the end of the month to overpay the mortgage.

Sit down with your partner, pen and paper and make a list of all your bills, weekly, monthly and annual costs and work out what you need to spend money on before you get paid again. Allocate money to all of your categories including saving and a "fun fund" until you have no money left to be budgeted (even if that includes putting £17.42 in a misc category) and stick to what you've allocated yourself for that month. Do it again the next time you get paid.

Having a take away fund was really vital for us in realising how often we wasted money with a mid-week takeout, plus a Friday night, plus sometimes on a weekend and motivated us to limit ourselves a bit.

peachypetite · 02/02/2018 16:11

Meal plan and shop online so you don't get tempted by random crap. Stop wasting money renting movies when you already have subscriptions!

Original poster
RetroFlowers65 · 02/02/2018 16:11

BT is a month, food is weekly sorry if that wasn't clear.
Line rental & fibre are about £55 com
£85 mobiles and tv is about £12 as we have the a couple of bolt on items, kids channels and music channels.

OP posts:
Original poster
RetroFlowers65 · 02/02/2018 16:13

I am so embarrassed looking at these figures we waste money a year than so people get paid, I feel so ashamed.

OP posts:
BarbaraofSevillle · 02/02/2018 16:18

Watch a few episodes of Eat Well for Less if it is still available on the iplayer.

That is focussed on food shopping, but they have found an aparently never ending supply of people who can't afford to take their DCs to Disney because they spend money like water day to day. You are not alone.

peachypetite · 02/02/2018 16:19

Do you really need Netflix, prime and movie?

peachypetite · 02/02/2018 16:20

Also - check out the money saving expert forums

crackerjacket · 02/02/2018 16:20

You ever get coffee? Magazines, choc bars, lunch etc ?

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